​​Diego with a group of Rio Lagartos grade school students in the first session of a bird identification class.​

Eco Tourism , Bird watching and fly fishing in Rio Lagartos,

Diego Nuñez is an experienced and trained bird guide,naturalist and avid fly fisherman) who pioneered eco-tourism in Rio Lagartos nearly 20 years ago when he established his family business. He now works with his two sons, Diego and Jorge, who are training for land birding and are qualified for the boat birding tours.They are also experienced fishing guides. Diego's wife Matildé runs the restaurant and Lodge "Ria Maya"with help from daughter Andrea and sons Jorge and DiegoDiego has attended many classes and workshops on nature, birds and preservation of the Bio-reserve and Petenes(fresh water springs) including the RARE Nature Guide Training Course Yucatan Peninsula (April 1998)He studied with Barbara McKinnon in the first group of birding guides she helped train(1996) and he has continually helped to add to the bird counts that she keeps and publishes for Rio Lagartos and the Yucatan Peninsula.(see bird Lists )bar)He has personally added 6 new birds to the list.The count now is 395 for Rio Lagartos. and 555 for the Yucatan.He is a qualified nature and birding instructor who has trained many of the guides in Rio Lagartos and has given classes to groups of children and adults to help further their appreciation and understanding of the natural world around them. He has worked extensively with Pronatura, Ninos and Crias and other environment and Government Groups such as CONAP. Diego has assisted visiting scientists and biologists with their research efforts and has been involved with bird monitoring,flamingo banding,crocodile tagging,maintaining water flow in the area's fresh water springs,reforestation, as well as animal rescue work with sea turtles, flamingos, and area birds.